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A SATURDAY REMEMBERED Eleanor P. Madsen Sacramento, California Professional Division First Place Historical Essay Towels, diapers, sheets, blowing gently in spring-soft air. For a moment I captured from out of the past that fresh, sweet smell of cleanness. So seldom are such memories lived again in our world of '76. As a liberated woman of today I feel only the warmth of clothes taken from a dryer smelling of "Tide", "Downy", "Cling Free" or other commercial products to remind me of "Wash day" ... a day which is no more, a day which may be any day, any hour, hurried minutes while breakfast is cooking or a more leisurely time while watching a television program. The Saturday wash days of my childhood hold special memories and though the return to the menial drudgery of those days is not to be desired, there were lessons learned and pleasant relation-ships discovered that cannot be forgotten. It has been said that "Cleanliness is next to Godliness," a principle in which our pioneer ancestors firmly believed. Every pioneer home had a wash tub and a scrubbing board as evi-dence of this fact, and they were used frequently along with the home-made soap. Eventually, the scrubbing board gave way to the hand-powered washer. A typical wash day in the early 1900's began with gather-ing the clothes. Each child was instructed to "be sure and get all your dirty clothes," since it was wash day and there wouldn't be another wash day for two or three weeks. Wash day was a family affair. The older boys chopped wood, and the younger boys filled the wood box and the chip pan in the house and also brought tree limbs and other larger pieces of wood for the outdoor fire. In the morning, the father arose early and started the fire in the large, black kitchen stove. After it was burning brightly, he removed the two front stove plates and set a huge boiler on this space, filling it with water to heat. -41- |
